Signs & Wonders Blog

Dear Macklemore, This letter is a response to your comments at the recent Palestine Will Live Forever Festival. First, let me tell you about myself. I could be considered a rapper since I rap better than sing. Years ago, I pursued a career in the recording industry . I worked as a disc jockey plus produced electronic music that received national radio exposure. Then in the 1990s, I committed my life to Jesus and became a missionary. Occasionally, I glance at the Billboard website to see what’s happening with the music scene. I first became familiar with you in 2013 when your gay anthem “ Same Love ” became a hit. A short time later, a friend who performs Christian rap in parades added “And We Danced” and “Can’t Hold Us” to his repertoire but with rewritten lyrics. I helped him remix the parodies of your songs. You once told an interviewer, “I want to be someone who is respected and not just in terms of my music. I want to be respected in terms of the way that I treat people.” I ...

Americans shouldn’t take their voting rights for granted. Soldiers have died so that we have the freedom to choose our leaders. Since becoming a Christian in 1991, I’ve made it a point to vote in every presidential election. Billy Graham once said, “It is the duty of every individual Christian at election time to study the issues and candidates and then go to the polls and vote.” We have a responsibility to elect politicians who enact policies in line with Scripture. Some individuals don’t like standing in long lines to cast their ballot. Yet they will do so to buy tickets to a rock concert or a sporting event. On Election Day 1992, I had to work during business hours and attend an evening meeting. So I voted early a few days before. Back then I lived in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. I remember walking into City Hall to cast my ballot and saw Jesse Ventura there. He was mayor of the city then but six years later became governor. Due to my travels as a missionary, I’ve often requested ...

There once was a man who prayed daily for God to let him win the lottery. Despite his persistent begging, nothing happened. Finally, after pestering the Lord one last time, this man heard a booming voice: “Give Me a break! Buy a ticket!” People hoping to become instant millionaires spend billions yearly on lottery tickets. The biggest Powerball jackpot ever won was over $2 billion in 2022. Lottery officials had determined the odds of winning a large jackpot like that are 1 in 292.2 million. It’s been said that you are likelier to be struck by lightning than winning the lottery. Do you know anyone who got struck by lightning? Years ago, Americans had to flock to places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City to gamble. Nowadays, there are state lotteries, sports betting, and casinos all over the country. During the early 1990s, I visited two casinos that just opened up in Minnesota. I had coupons redeemed for rolls of quarters. I played a few slot machines before quitting to avoid losing mo...

Yesterday, a Facebook friend posted a meme that said, “I didn't find Jesus; He found me. Because He wasn’t lost. I was. Amen.” It reminded me of the cartoon posted above. I’ve seen other posts debating whether a man finds Jesus or He finds us. Throughout the Bible, men sought the Messiah. Angels told the shepherds in Luke 2:12, “And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” The wise men in Matthew 2 went to Bethlehem to seek out and worship the King of the Jews. In Luke 19, Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus. However, verse 10 from this chapter has Him issuing a paradoxical statement, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” I agree Jesus was never lost. He’s the Savior. Men are the ones who are lost, but they must choose to find Him. Sadly, many people won’t. Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few wh...

The past few days, I attended Summer Campmeeting at Calvary Pentecostal Tabernacle in Ashland, Virginia. Before going there, I stayed with a pastor and his family in Buffalo, New York. While packing up my stuff, I couldn’t find my portable luggage scale used to avoid baggage fees. A friend who drove me to the Minneapolis airport weeks before offered to get me another one. Since my hosts in Buffalo had a bathroom scale I could use to weigh my bags, I asked for the luggage scale to be sent to my post office box in Ashland.  It was soon discovered that Amazon wouldn’t deliver packages to PO boxes. Instead, my luggage scale was sent to a set of lockers outside a Wawa convenience store. After arriving in Ashland by train on Wednesday morning, I went to Wawa but didn’t know which locker contained my package nor how to open the door. So I called Amazon’s customer service number. My friend who had placed the order needed to send me a special email, which I received several hours later. ...